You are here:Home/International tax attorney & lawyer Video
International tax lawyer, FBAR lawyer, FATCA lawyer, FBAR tax lawyer, international tax attorney, international tax lawyers, international tax attorney Minneapolis, international tax attorney New York, international tax lawyer Minnesota
Hello and welcome to Sherayzen Law Office Video blog. My name is Eugene Sherayzen and I’m an international tax attorney and owner of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd.
Today, I’m continuing my series of blogs from Chicago, Illinois in the United States and I’m actually in Grant Park, the park where Obama gave his famous speech. It is interesting because it was precisely under the Obama administration that FATCA was passed into law. So, this park has a very special significance for me as an international tax attorney because it was precisely FATCA the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, that completely changed the entire landscape of international tax compliance.
Why? Well, because FATCA provided that third party verification that the IRS needed to find out about people who were non-compliant with their FBARs as well as foreign income reporting. It was FATCA that forced foreign banks to affectively report on their US owners of foreign bank accounts. It was FATCA that gave the teeth that the IRS needed together with the US Department of Justice to enforce US international tax laws concerning foreign income and foreign account reporting in Switzerland. In fact, we can say that FATCA was the principle reason why there wasn’t Swiss bank tax compliance in 2013 and also ended Swiss Bank Secrecy as we know it.
In a future blog, I will continue talking about US international tax issues that concern Chicago and the people who live here.
Thank you for watching, until the next time.
http://sherayzenlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/sherlawltd_logo.png00adminhttp://sherayzenlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/sherlawltd_logo.pngadmin2022-04-28 19:29:072024-08-21 19:06:33FATCA and The End of Swiss Bank Secrecy | Chicago International Tax Lawyer & Attorney
Hello and welcome to Sherayzen Law Office Video blog. My name is Eugene Sherayzen and I’m an international tax attorney and owner of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd.
What I would like to do in this blog is discuss Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures. What is it and why it is important. First of all Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures is an Offshore Voluntary Disclosure option. In the previous video, I discussed what an Offshore Voluntary Disclosure is. Briefly, let’s restate that an Offshore Voluntary Disclosure is basically an option that the IRS provided to US Taxpayers; I should say several options, that the IRS provided to US Taxpayers in order to come forward and resolve their prior non-compliance with US International Tax Laws in exchange for a more lenient treatment: a lower penalty, immunity from criminal prosecution, etc.
Where does Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures fit into this picture? Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures or SDOP is reserved for non-willful taxpayers. People who, for example, did not know about the fact that FBAR existed or that they didn’t know they needed to report their foreign income or there was something that happened that prevented them from learning about it or they were just negligent; not reckless, but just negligent in their compliance. That is they did not consult an attorney in time or there was something else or a another circumstance in their life that prevented them from complying with US International Tax Laws. For these taxpayers who are non-willful, the IRS gave this option and it’s a valuable option; it’s a good option.
In fact, as far as the voluntary disclosure options go, Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures is one of the best options available. The penalty is relatively low; it is 5% of the assets that should have been reported on FBAR or any other International Information return, a one-time 5% penalty on the highest of the past six years. There are no penalties for income tax non-compliance; you just have to pay taxes and interest on the tax but there are limitations to this option.
First of all you cannot file a late return pursuant to Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures; you can only amend an already filed return. It can be a problem; especially for taxpayers, who for one reason or another couldn’t file all of their US tax returns on time. Second, you have to certify under the penalty of perjury, that you were in fact, non-willful. This subject is very sensitive and very important. Here, you must really talk to an attorney to figure out: are you non-willful according to the US legal standards or are you willful with respect to your noncompliance? There are a lot of facts and circumstances that go into that determination. You really need to talk to an attorney; I cannot stress this enough before you strive to do a voluntary disclosure. The IRS has expressly stated that they will go after the cases where they think people are abusing Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures because in reality they were not non-willful but they were willful.
Hello and welcome to Sherayzen Law Office Video blog. My name is Eugene Sherayzen and I’m an international tax attorney and owner of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd.
Let’s begin with the fact that, US taxpayers must report their foreign income and foreign assets to the IRS. If they fail to do that, they face potentially multiple and very large IRS penalties. The IRS doesn’t have the resources to audit every single US taxpayer; so, what they prefer to do is to allow US taxpayers to voluntarily resolve their prior US international tax non-compliance.
How exactly they do that depends on the facts and circumstances of each person. The IRS created these Offshore Voluntary Disclosure options which are basically programs for US taxpayers to voluntarily come forward, disclose their prior non-compliance with US international tax laws in exchange for a more lenient tax treatment. How lenient? It depends on the facts and circumstances and it depends on the voluntary disclosure option that you are using.
For example, if you are using an IRS Voluntary Disclosure Practice, that may mean a significant penalty because that option is reserved mostly for willful taxpayers. On the other hand, if you’re using the Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures, for example, you will get a much more lenient tax treatment because it is reserved for non-willful taxpayers and of course, if you also reside outside of the United States, the IRS gives you the best option: the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures.
Hello and welcome to Sherayzen Law Office Video blog. My name is Eugene Sherayzen and I’m an international tax attorney and owner of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd.
Today, I’m continuing my series of vlogs from Austin, TX. Today, is a very special day because Austin has a very important significance for me. This is the place where the IRS has it’s campus and where it accepts all of the Streamlined Disclosures: Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures and Streamlined Foreign Offshore Disclosures.
Hello and welcome to Sherayzen Law Office Video blog. My name is Eugene Sherayzen and I’m an international tax attorney and owner of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd.
Today, I am continuing my series of blogs from Mexico City. In the previous blog, I talked about FBAR, Form 8938, Form 8621 and Schedule B reporting concerning foreign bank and financial accounts. Today, I’d like to talk about what type of accounts are actually reportable and I’d like to focus specifically on Mexico. What type of Mexican accounts are reportable? First of all, your regular checking and savings accounts are important and fixed-deposit accounts are important. You will notice that fixed-deposit accounts are reported as separate accounts from checking accounts and savings accounts. It doesn’t matter if they are to renew or change the account numbers; it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that there is an account number associated with the fixed deposits and that’s what gets reported on the FBAR. The same rule applies to Form 8938.
Besides the regular checking, savings and fixed-deposit accounts, also all of your investment accounts and securities accounts are reportable on FBAR. Life insurance policies: if you have a life insurance contract, that’s also going to be reportable on FBAR. Investments in gold, silver and other precious metals that are placed in a general bank vault – that would be reportable on FBAR as well. Basically, what you’re looking for is a fiduciary relationship between the financial institution and you where the financial institution has access to the assets that it holds on your behalf along with an account number associated with that access.
There are other possible assets that won’t fall neatly within the categories I described, but may also be reportable on FBAR, for example, prepaid credit cards. Here, you’ll want to disclose everything to your international tax attorney to make sure that all of the assets are reported on your FBAR.
In the next blog, I will continue talking about US International tax compliance concerning Mexican assets.
